My Sexy Saturday: Sexy Howl

It's time for another My Sexy Saturday blog hop. This week writers were asked to supply something to the theme of My Sexy Howl. I thought this was perfect for displaying a short scene from my debut novel, Witch Hunt. In this scene Aidan, a werewolf, asks his lover, Rei, to show him her wolf form. While Rei herself isn't a werewolf she is a witch who can shape shift.

Make sure to check out the other great writers in the blog hop by jumping over to My Sexy Saturday or by checking out the links at the end of this post.

Witch Hunt:

What Aidan saw sitting there before him was a very powerful, full-grown female timber wolf. She was smaller than his kind but was large for her kind, appearing well over a hundred pounds. Then there were her eyes. Those deep, engulfing black eyes stared at him confidently.

Aidan slipped his feet off the edge of the couch, sitting up. Remembering how his own kind reacted in their furry form, Aidan gently moved his hand, fingers outstretched, toward her. Rei leaned forward and bumped his palm with her muzzle. “You’re really coherent right now,” Aidan said in amazement. Rei let out a little whine. A smile drifted over Aidan’s lips, and he quickly amended what he had said. “It’s rare for a werewolf to be so coherent at such an early age. I assumed you’d be the same.”

Rei stood up and, showing just how coherent she was, began to spin in a slow circle. Aidan recognized the movement at once. Rei was showing off her appearance for him, asking if he liked what he saw. He was captivated by the sleek look her light-colored fur gave her. Her movements were so graceful and natural. Aidan felt his own wolf stirring and knew that his furrier half liked the image of Rei’s wolf form too.

“You are gorgeous,” he said finally. Rei stopped her spin and faced him again. Her head was held high with pride from his praise. “Let me hear you. I want to know what you sound like.”

She looked defiant for a second as she let out what sounded like a gruff harrumph, but in the next second, she lifted her head back and let out a low howl. Aidan was stunned. Rei sounded like a natural wolf. The deep tone engraved itself in Aidan’s mind. All wolves had a different tone to their voices, a different sound in their hearts, and Rei’s would be easily recognized from then on. When Rei ended her quiet howl, Aidan smiled at her.

In a shimmer of fur, Rei was once again a fully clothed woman, kneeling in front of him. She looked innocently inviting with her arms stretched out to the floor and the top of her milky breasts pressed tight against her pale blue shirt. Her breathing was uneven and restless. He slipped slowly off the futon to his knees in front of her and watched as her breathing began to even out. The way her eyes slowly changed back into their deep blue made Aidan remember the way she had felt when he was making love to her. She had been flooded with passion, and her natural power had responded. The thought brought a sharp need rushing through his groin.

He stroked her lower neck and collarbone. Her skin was so soft, and he swore he felt her already frantic heart skip a beat at his touch. Aidan leaned into her to brush his lips across hers. The gentle kiss was brief, and Aidan slowly let his lips trail along her check until he reached her ear. Just before nibbling on the tender lobe, he whispered, “It’s a shame. All your clothes came back too.”

Review of Dark Wolf Rising by Rhyannon Byrd

Review of 

Dark Wolf Rising  By Rhyannon Byrd

I was scrolling through the books in the Google Marketplace and found this gem. I knew nothing about the Bloodrunners series when I decided to download this book and give it a try. I was very pleasantly surprised that it is a great standalone read and it has me interested in the rest of the series.

Here is the blurb to give everyone a quick glance:

“Eric Drake, a powerful Dark Wolf, has never trusted himself around human females-preferring to mate only within his pack. That is, until he encounters Chelsea Smart snooping around Silvercrest pack land in search of her missing sister. Secretly, Chelsea thinks Eric is the sexiest man she's ever seen, though she is wary of his potent Alpha energy. Then it's discovered that Chelsea's sister is being held by a pack of vicious Lycans, and Eric heroically leaps into action. Now, Chelsea will risk everything-her body and soul-to surrender to the passion that will mark her as Eric's woman for all eternity...if they survive.”

The story starts out with Eric Drake arriving on the scene to help scoot someone off of pack land. Two young mixed blood wolfs are having real trouble with a lady parked in a van. Chelsea, the lady in the van, isn’t going to leave no matter what. Not only can she not afford to stay in a hotel but she’s on a mission to find her sister. I couldn’t help but enjoy the feeling of awe and pride when she lifts a hand cannon and points it at the hero, Eric. I mean it I loved seeing a strong woman take a stand and stand up to a big macho guy. It was refreshing.

Considering that Eric and Chelsea had to get close real quick it was a really nice read that had me turning pages all night. It is packed with action and really shows what Eric is willing to do to keep his pack safe and protect Chelsea. Eric has issues with his own past and doesn’t know if he is really the right person for Chelsea at first. 

The book flowed wonderfully. I found myself at the end before I knew, and wanted to go back and reread part of it right away. I plan on checking out the other books in this series to see a full picture of the pack and the wolves that Rhyannon Byrd has created for us.

(Read for the 2014 Shifter Challenge hosted by Parajunkee)

New Moon Madness

Image by Tallia22 from stock.xchng

I've been hard at work revising my latest novel. Revising is a long process for me. Not as long as writing, but it seems that time just drags by while revising. I'm a few chapters away from this last read through, but when I'm not working on this piece another piece is peeking through already, and it seems this crazy new moon is only helping increase my interest in the story.

I love writing paranormal, fantasy and science fiction pieces. I fell in love with the thrill that creating the worlds gives me. Over the last few years paranormal fiction has taken over and I focused on werewolves and witches more than anything. In Witch Hunt Rei is a powerful Earth Witch who runs into a pack of werewolves in Montana. I have a healer in this latest story which is tied to the Witch Hunt world, and a third story idea centered around just the witch culture of the same world.

It may have been the idea of these witches that started to inspire a short story idea for me. A world were werewolves, vampires and other supernatural beasties are not as common in the story line. This story is based around two historically powerful families. Each family passes along their magical power to the next head of the family, and of course the families don't get along so well.

I'm not sure yet where this story is heading but this new moon tonight is pulling me towards starting some sort of outline for the story. If I do get an outline done I'm going to set it aside until I've finished those last few chapters of revision.

Enjoy this Super New Moon!

Parajunkee's Shifter Challenge for 2014

 

Get ready for it. Here it comes.... it's the Shifter Challenge for 2014! Hosted by Parajunkee.com this reading challenge is an awesome way to get yourself back into a reading routine.  Here are the rules posted up on the site:

"THE RULES:

1. The Shifter Challenge runs from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014
2. The challenge is to read 10 books that have a SHIFTER as a main, or supporting character
3. Books can be in any format and should be at least 100 pages. Short stories do not count. You can also post about rereads.
4. Post about this challenge on your blog stating that you are participating or create a shelf via Goodreads, Booklikes etc. That post or shelf is the link that you will include in the link-up below. The link should be the post link not just your direct blog link. Please be courteous and include a link back to this post.
5. Post your reviews on the Review Post  "

So all you have to do is sign up for the challenge and get to reading. Don't forget to let the reading groups know what you're doing! I'm going to be signing up for this challenge as I'm a big fan of shifter stories. There is also a Vampire Challenge, but I ran myself dry on vampires a few years ago. But that would be a great challenge for any fang lovers out there.

I'm off to find my first shifter book. If you're thinking about joining may I suggest Witch Hunt or you can find a number of Shifter Romances over at Cobblestone Press. They have a shifter line that features books that center around shape shifters. 

Good dreams and happy reading everyone!

Peek a Boo

I've been working on a novel. Well, I've been working on a lot of stories, but for the last half a year one novel has kept my attention more than the others. Another werewolf novel. It is centered around a character from my first novel, Witch Hunt. In this novel I've moved away from the mountains of Montana towards my home turf, the Appalachians. Yeap, I love the mountains and I think most of the stories that come to me for the shifters and witches are most likely to take place in them.

Onward to the story at hand. A romance centered around two werewolves. One is the leader of his bloodline and the other is the daughter in a traveling family. Traveling werewolf families live the way that werewolves lived for years. They travel from area to area, migrating if you will. This would keep them safe and relatively unnoticed by most people. After the Witch Hunters, aka burners, began to hunt down true witches and werewolves most of these families had to change their way of life, but as I learned in this story not all families felt it was the right move.


I won't lie, when I was writing Witch Hunt the character I'm working with now just screamed that he needed his own story. Even then I was developing him into more than a side character. The picture above, I also posted it in Hunter or Hunted Facebook page, was a strong inspiration for his peek a boo appearance in the life of our heroine. Other than mischievous wolf/man, I'm not sure why this picture caught my attention, but it sure did and now I'm riding a run away train towards ... well I guess I'll find out when I get there!

Now, back to the craziness of the day.

Witch Hunt: Excerpt

I felt it was about time I placed an excerpt of Witch Hunt on here. Hope you enjoy!

Witch Hunt by JR White

Prologue

High above the ground of man, the moonless night sky was calm. Bright stars dotted the darkness, and peace had settled. Suddenly a scream shattered the silence, and startled birds flew from the trees. The scream had rung out from a young woman far below, standing by a large flickering fire. As quickly as the scream had burst to life, a swift hand struck the woman across the face.

Rei fell to the ground, her voice silenced. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth, and her world blurred over. As her eyes began to focus, Rei saw her brother only a few feet away. Blood rushed from his throat, and Rei, with her hands bound behind her back, could do nothing but watch. She could barely even make out the voices chanting around them.

The dark-clothed man who had hit her put his hands high in the air, mirroring a woman who held a bloody knife above her head. Rei ignored their ritual and struggled to her brother’s side. Leaning her forehead to the top of his, Rei whispered, “Richard, I’m sorry.” Tears streamed down her face as she felt her brother’s life force racing from his body.

Surrounding them, a dozen people called to the natural power in Richard’s blood. They pulled it from every drop, and the High Priestess who held the knife was funneling most of it into herself. Rei looked up at them and then back to her brother. Richard’s dark blue eyes found hers, and suddenly an image of a feather fluttered through her mind. In that instant Rei knew what she had to do. She felt the magic forming in the circle growing and knew that once they were finished with Richard they would turn to her. For Rei, death was one thing, but being killed to increase the power of a blood cult was beyond reasonable.

 

Rei needed no words to steal her brother’s magic back from the air, but her heart ached at the sin. Closing off the guilt, she began to reach out her magic. The blood that had swelled at her busted lip was enough. Blood called to blood, and Rei simply called out to the power of her brother. For an instant a battle between the will of the coven and Rei raged, but the love of her brother and the guilt of his death won. Rei’s head snapped back, and she stared blindly at the star-speckled sky. Behind her the High Priestess dropped her arms, breaking off the war of magic and dashed toward Rei, ready to drive the knife into her.

Time slowed as Rei began to stand. Her knees began to unbend and change. She felt the texture of her legs begin to roughen, and in the flicker of the fire, feathers began to ripple over her skin and clothing. As her arms shrank and formed hollowed-bone wings, the rope around her wrists fell to the ground. When time returned to normal, Rei was a small bird flying upward into the sky. Below her, the knife the High Priestess wielded stabbed into a small pile of cast off rope.

Rei heard a rage-filled scream from below her and then the stern command from the High Priestess, “Spread out! She can’t stay in that form long!”

High above the coven, the feathered Rei skimmed across the once again silent and still night. She felt fear gripping at her throat, threatening to weaken the power her brother had given her. Rei swallowed back her grief and flew onward.

Below her she knew the coven was scattering through the forest in their search. Rei was happy that the coven had not stolen the ability to change their shape. Shape changing was a rare gift for a witch. It may have been the only advantage she held over them, but holding a different form was hard. Speeding her way over the trees, Rei tried to focus on the image of the bird she had formed. She forced her will into the shape and prayed she could hold it long enough to put many miles between herself and the blood witches.

Thoughts of her beloved brother filled her mind, and it was only the determination of his power that had forced the image of the small bird into her mind. Quickly the face of her brother was morphing into the bird to help her hold the form long enough to escape. Richard, I’m so sorry, Rei whispered in her mind.

 

Witch Hunt : The Publishing Process

So I thought I would add the cover of Witch Hunt. I personally really like this cover. I was a little worried because I only filled out a form for this and didn't get to preview it before publishing, but I had nothing to worry about. It came out great! At least I think so. 

As Witch Hunt was my first professional published novel, I didn't know much about the entire process. Like many authors I feared the editing process. We've all heard the horror stories, but editing was a real dream for me. Waiting on the release turned out to be the hardest part.

Now to focus on promotion and spreading the word. By the by, if you're interested you can find Witch Hunt for sale @ Cobblestone Press. You can also read an except from the beginning of the story.

Good dreams.